MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: WE HAVE A TITLE!

Let’s cut to the chase: we have bad news and we have great news. The bad news? We were unable to secure the rights to Twilight for our live show. (Remember, we have great news in just a paragraph or two, so don’t break out the pitchforks just yet.) We had long talks with the folks at Summit, who turned out to be very nice people and not Volturi-like in the slightest. They understood what we wanted to do and didn’t object to the idea. They just felt that the Twilight series is still very much a going concern for them, i.e. something that’s still going to earn them millions and millions more dollars, and it didn’t make sense to let a few guys crack jokes on top of it - at least not this summer. They’re probably right, dag nabbit, and they did leave the door open for us riffing Twilight in the future.

We knew this was a risk going in, which is why we were simultaneously talking with other studios about backup plans. Which brings us to the great news. We have acquired the rights to another movie for the August live show and it’s a darn good Plan B. Heck, it’s not even really a Plan B, we consider it more of a Plan A-1.5, Subsection C. For our August live show we will be riffing...

STARSHIP TROOPERS.

We’re excited about this for a number of reasons: It’s big. It’s goofy. It’s got giant bug aliens. Folks have been asking us to do this movie ever since we riffed excerpts of it on the 1998 MST3K Blockbuster Special. And IT’S FREAKING STARSHIP TROOPERS! It’s basically a cheesy 50s sci-fi flick, the kind we know and “love”, but made in 1997 with a massive Hollywood budget! NEIL PATRICK HARRIS as a psychic who talks to giant bugs! DENISE RICHARDS as a brilliant starship pilot, before she was a brilliant nuclear scientist in that Bond movie! MICHAEL IRONSIDE, because it’s a war movie, so of course Michael Ironside! JAKE BUSEY, hanging out and making it weird! This movie’s got it all!

Getting Starship Troopers is especially exciting because it’s owned by Sony. Thanks to you guys, we now have a relationship with a great big studio, which we’re incredibly excited about going forward, because of the fantastic potential. They’ve got shelves and shelves of fun, famous movies we’d love to sink our teeth into, and we can’t wait to see what doors this opens in the future. And we couldn’t have done it without you.

Now that we’ve established the title, here’s some more info about the live show:

It is going to take place on Thursday, August 15th. Once again we’ll be performing at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville. Tickets are not on sale yet, but we’ve worked out an arrangement with the Belcourt to make sure that you guys, our Kickstarter backers, get the first opportunity to buy live show tickets. We will be sending out more information as the on sale date approaches.

In the interest of full disclosure, we want to let you know that while we are thrilled to be doing Starship Troopers, working with a big studio is more complicated than how we usually do things on our own. For instance, negotiating the rights to riff a movie live in a theater is not the same as negotiating for the digital distribution rights of said live show. They are two different departments and what works for one may not work for another. We know that the digital download of the live show was one of our most popular rewards choices and are going to do everything in our power to be able to deliver the reward. But we have not secured these rights as of yet, and there’s a chance that Sony may not let us do this. Hopefully it won’t be an issue. If for any reason we’re unable to deliver the digital download, we will of course offer up what we hope is a reward that is more than a fair substitute. You will be kept in the loop as this develops, and we may even run ideas by you if we’re forced to choose a new reward.

So like we said, we feel like this is great news, and we hope you do too. We’re excited about taking on this modern alien war epic of infinite cheese, splattering the Arachnids all over the screen alongside a crew of impossibly attractive young Hollywood stars. If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments or send an email to support@rifftrax.com

And as a final note, we’d just like to thank you again for taking this journey with us. We think we’ve made something special happen here, and are excited about what opportunities it might open in the future. And we couldn’t have done it without your support.

So strap on your stompiest bug-stompin’ spaceboots, Roughnecks, it’s going to be a hell of a show!

Superbacker

Disappointed by the TWILIGHT news and wish you'd found a movie a little less self-aware of how ridiculous it is (I would have preferred something a little more unintentionally goofy). But worse-- I'll be flying to a wedding in Wisconsin that night and am going to miss the show! Dangit! Well, at least, I'll get the live download in October. Congrats, guys!

August 15 is the first day of Gen Con in Indianapolis. There's gonna be close to thirty thousand nerds there and I'm sure you can find a few fans in the mix. Maybe you could talk to the people at Gen Con to maybe partner with them. I know they have a film festival running the entire convention. If nothing else, you should try to seed a few theaters in the greater Indianapolis area and try to get the word out. You guys would fit in great with the Gen Con croud.

I could go either way on an edited cut of the film, although two of my regular Live show companions won't go if it is uncut. I can see how an R would cut into the ticket sales, though.
Anyway, just glad to see Verhoeven get his due. :)

Great Plan A 1.5 Subsection C! I was hoping for Super Mario Bros but won't snub the best b-movie of the 90's. Like others I'd love to see NPH make an appearance, even though it's unlikely as he'll likely be filming the longest wedding in TV history by that point. As for consolation gift if you can't do a digital download, how about Manos Live?

It would be all the more worth it if you could get Neil Patrick Harris to show up. You got him once before. Still, if you think it would crimp your riffing style or he's just not up for it, I understand.

I understand the objections of others here (particularly those who complain about the R Rating, some people just don't watch movies with this much violence and nudity).

But for my money, do what you have to do. I'm sure Starship Troopers will be a good riff and while I would be disappointed to not get a digital download of the live show, I'll accept whatever you think of as fair. You've always delivered a good value for my dollar and I know that won't change.

Unfortunately, I can't say I'm really surprised that Summit didn't bite. Big companies tend to worry about "devaluing the brand" by allowing people to say unflattering things about it. In most cases they can't prevent it, but in this case, they can.

It also doesn't make much sense in this case, because people who love "Twilight" aren't likely to attend a riffing of it in the first place, but what can you do?

I am a little disappointed that you guys couldn't get Twilight, but I have to honestly say that you couldn't have done better when it came to your plan A 1.5 subsection C!! Eager to see you guys rip into this one!!

This is great. I've wanted you guys to do this movie for the longest time. It sucks about Twilight, but that movie isn't going anywhere. You can always try again.

As for the folks complaining about the riffing of an R-Rated film...seriously? How old are you folks? I could understand if maybe you were planning on bringing your kids to the riff, but if you're a grown man or woman not planning to do that, complaining because the movie they've chosen has a few curse words, a spatter of blood, and the occasional bare breast then you, my friend, have some growing up to do. When the day of the riff comes, just go see Disney's Planes or Percy Jackson, something apparently more your speed. Or better yet, sit this one out. The show is most likely gonna be at 8pm and won't end until past your bedtime anyway.

Now that I got that off my chest, Kev, Mike, Bill, I can't wait for this riff. This is going to be the best August I've had in a while.

Guys, I have to say I'm disappointed in this choice. My wife and I weren't planning on watching an R rated show for this event. I understand that you couldn't get the film you wanted, but we're not going to come to the live venue or watch the digital download reward if you're doing Starship Troopers.

For those of us who don't want to watch an R movie (or just don't want to watch Starship Troopers for whatever reason) can I propose that you give us credit in the Rifftrax store equal to the amount we pledged? For example, I believe my wife and I pledged $20, so rather than get a digital download of Starship Troopers (which we won't watch) we'd get $20 to spend on stuff we DO want to watch from the Rifftrax store.

I know you guys have the capability to email out store credit, so hopefully this isn't too much to ask.

Edited version? Please don't there would be far more people upset by this than if they play the original version everyone else have grown to love/hate. I like many other people are always upset when you see your favorite movies edited for TV. So there are a few curse words and nudity its nothing that most of us have not already seen or heard. If you don't like it don't go or close your eyes.

Beyond that it would be awesome if they can get Neil Patrick Harris to be a guest riffer again for a movie he was in.

Don't mind the miss when it comes to Twilight, it's still a big name and it's been done before and watched hundreds of times by myself and friends already, however, it's a little frustrating that it's being replaced with an R rated movie. I don't mind the Riffs getting a tiny bit edgy every now and then with one of you guys dropping an F bomb when it really calls for it, but the nudity in Troopers is a big change from your normal Riff, especially in a theater (R rating limits the audience that can get in) where you can't skip a chapter or fast forward or what not. Figure negotiations with studios eats up a lot of time but I wish it could have been replaced with another movie with a rating more in line with Twilight, or at least a vote from backers for a R rated or PG/PG13 rated one... Really stuck on if the girl and I will go against our personal feelings just to see you guys riff it... no offense!

NO!!!!!! Seriously, wasn't there ANY other movie they could have gotten? Any at all? I'm happy you're all pleased with this one, but I'm so creeped out by bugs that I don't think I could sit through it. Besides, from what I've been reading, it's way, way, WAY too violent for me. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to violent movies, and I'm afraid this would be too upsetting for me to watch. I've seen every Rifftrax Live so far, but I may have to sit this one out. If other people like it that's fine, but it's just not for me.

I think I like this choice even more than Twilight. Great to see a movie that hasn't been riffed yet! I just really hope the live show is available to download. That would suck if it wasn't. Also I hope it still gets a live broadcast release like the others.

I have to admit, I'm actually a little devastated to hear that Twilight didn't pan out :-(

The news of this Kickstarter campaign came at a coincidental time for me and my wife. She was just discovering Twilight -- realizing that it's ridiculous, but still succumbing to the obsession. She eventually convinced me to read the books, and watch the movies with her, which I did, because I'm the single greatest husband who ever lived :-P

We both completely and utterly enjoyed/enjoy media that makes fun of Twilight, and just as we were getting sucked into this, we heard about this Kickstarter campaign. Already being a fan of the Rifftrax guys, and having seen them at Wootstock, we were definitely curious. Our curiosity led us to buying all five Rifftrax for the Twilight saga, watching them all, and endlessly quoting them to each other. Through our enjoyment of the Twilight Rifftrax, we introduced dozens of our friends to Rifftrax, including people who were genuinely fans of Twilight.

We were really looking forward to a live rendition of some of our favorite jokes, and seeing some potential surprises as well. I think that riffing Twilight is important *because* it's still contemporary, and a moneymaker. I can see why Summit wouldn't want to sell, though, so I guess I can't be totally disappointed -- it was a long shot to begin with.

Thanks for trying, and I eagerly await the riffing of this very riffable movie!

I'm really happy with this choice. I must admit I actually had my fingers crossed for the super Mario bros movie. It was on the possible plan B list and was the one i was most interested in(even more than twilight). However I'm really happy with starship troopers. My brother and I are both really excited about going to this one.

Please oh please oh please confirm that this will be broadcast live to the cinemas on August 15 (concurrent with the actual live performance on the stage, with time given for... you know... transmission of the signal).

I'd rather see ST than Twilight also. However, please keep going back for the download rights or this'll end up worse than the Godzilla kerfuffle. That being said, at least record it to release as an mp3. I can mix my own DVD if need be.

I'm just going to throw this out here, but if you are looking for ideas for newer shows to riff:

- Bloodrayne
- Lifeforce
- Showgirls

Shows with the most boring nude scenes ever. I know some of your fans are younger, so you might have to use the TV edited versions. But let's face it, any kid buying movies from you is on the internet; if they want to see nudity I think the internet has that covered. They can get more adult stuff than that with Netflix or Amazon videos. :)